Michel Houellebecq | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/michelhouellebecq
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 22:22:28 GMT2015-03-31T22:22:28Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Soumission by Michel Houellebecq review – France in 2022http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/06/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-france-islamic-rule-charlie-hebdo
<p>This is an enthralling, stunningly pessimistic – and bestselling – view of human nature from Europe’s premier misanthrope</p><p>Michel Houellebecq’s novel <em>Soumission</em> made its entry into the world under conditions that can confidently be declared unprecedented. <em>Soumission</em> did not simply come out on 7 January, the day when jihadists attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo; it was both pebble and ripple on a fathomless day.</p><p>Breakfast had seen the critics taking chunks out of this preposterous fantasy in which France comes under Islamic rule eight years from now. “Irresponsible,” pronounced Pierre Assouline, a Goncourt jurist; the commentator Patrick Cohen accused Houellebecq of peddling fears and phantasms. To no one’s surprise a caricature of the author was on the cover of the new edition of Charlie Hebdo (“in 2015 I lose my teeth. In 2022, I will do Ramadan”), while Houellebecq himself, bored, saturnine, dentally lamentable, did the rounds of the morning radio and TV shows. After the attacks at 11.30am things got a lot darker and weirder. A faked “extract” from <em>Soumission</em>, purporting to show that it had predicted the attacks, went viral, Houellebecq cancelled further publicity and left town, and, over the next few days, as republican France roared back at the Islamists, <em>Soumission</em> leaped to the top of the bestseller lists – where it remains (it had sold 120,000 copies after only five days).</p><p>Soumission marks one of those exceptional instances when politics and art arrive simultaneously</p><p>Houellebecq’s plot seems totally unrealisable, and yet there is truth in his moral tableau</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/06/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-france-islamic-rule-charlie-hebdo">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqFictionBooksCultureFranceEuropeIslamReligionCharlie Hebdo attackWorld newsCharlie HebdoFreedom of speechMagazinesMediaNewspapers & magazinesFri, 06 Feb 2015 11:00:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/06/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-france-islamic-rule-charlie-hebdoPhotograph: Rex Features‘Unsettling frisson of dread’ … Michel Houellebecq. Photograph: Rex FeaturesPhotograph: Rex Features‘Unsettling frisson of dread’ … Michel Houellebecq. Photograph: Rex FeaturesChristopher de Bellaigue2015-02-06T11:00:02ZMichel Houellebecq’s Soumission becomes instant No 1 in Germanyhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/26/michel-houellebecq-soumission-no-1-germany
<p>The novel, in which a near-future France elects a Muslim fundamentalist government, tops German book charts in first week on sale</p><p>Still at the top of the charts in France, Michel Houellebecq’s divisive new novel Soumission has now conquered Germany, shooting to the top of the charts in its first week in shops, with more than a quarter of a million copies now in print in German.</p><p>Translated as Unterwerfung (Submission) in German, Soumission tells of a near-future France which votes in the “Muslim Fraternity” party, rather than the far-right Front National, headed by Marine Le Pen. Once the change is effected, women begin to wear veils in public.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/26/michel-houellebecq-soumission-no-1-germany">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqBooksCharlie Hebdo attackGermanyEuropeCultureMon, 26 Jan 2015 14:26:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/26/michel-houellebecq-soumission-no-1-germanyPhotograph: A-way!/Splash News/CorbisInternational hit … Michel Houellebecq at the LitCologne literature festival. Photograph: A-way!/Splash News/CorbisPhotograph: A-way!/Splash News/CorbisInternational hit … Michel Houellebecq at the LitCologne literature festival. Photograph: A-way!/Splash News/CorbisAlison Flood2015-01-26T14:26:31ZBooks reviews roundup: Quite a Good Time to Be Born: A Memoir, 1935-75; Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Record Industry and Soumissionhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/23/books-review-roundup-quite-a-goodyear-to-be-born-cowboys-and-indies-and-soumission
What the critics thought of David Lodge’s memoir, Gareth Murphy’s chronicle of the music industry and Michel Houellebecq’s controversial new novel<p>“If you know of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/davidlodge" title="">David Lodge</a> as the wildly funny and dazzlingly clever author of <em>Changing Places</em> and <em>Small World</em>,” began <strong>John Carey</strong>’s Sunday Times review of Lodge’s <em>Quite a Good Time to Be Born: A Memoir, 1935-75</em>, “this memoir will surprise you. It is not funny, and makes no show of being clever. Its language is oddly staid.” Nevertheless, Carey, a fellow don whose own, chippier autobiography appeared last year, praised it as “a revealing account of a novelist’s growth”, albeit “too long”. Other critics seemed similarly disconcerted and could likewise manage only faint praise. “This is not an account of a life packed with thrills,” said the FT’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/suzi-feay" title=""><strong>Suzi Feay</strong></a>, “but in its own way it is a fascinating and moving read.” <strong>Allan</strong> <strong>Massie</strong>, in the Scotsman, pronounced it “much more than quite a good book” but only after lamenting “blandness” and the lack of comedy. Least merciful was the Daily Telegraph’s <strong>Nicholas Shakespeare</strong>, who detected “Pooterish” passages as the author describes his childhood, courtship and marriage, and rise to a professorship – too often Lodge can’t remember, Shakespeare pointed out too, and “what he does remember is sometimes head-scratchingly dull”.</p><p>Reviewers were entertained by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/18/cowboys-and-indies-review-story-music-industry-gareth-murphy-john-hammond-chris-blackwell-ru-beggars" title="">Gareth Murphy</a>’s <em>Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Record Industry</em>, but all had criticisms, mostly variations of the same complaint. The Daily Telegraph’s <strong>Helen Brown</strong> liked Murphy’s “freewheeling, enjoyable” chronicle, but preferred the early 19th-century chapters to post-1945 sections full of “gaps”. In the Times, <strong>Will Hodgkinson</strong> found it a “fascinating trawl” but felt Murphy’s writing lacked “flair” and “suffered” from having “a lot of ground to cover”; <strong>Kitty Empire</strong> agreed in the Observer (saying it was a mistake to take on “the entire shebang” in a “work only 359 pages long”) and saw it as unable to decide if it was a “nerdy tale” about formats or a livelier one about “egomaniac hustlers”. For the Independent’s <strong>John Clarke</strong> the problem with the book’s scope and “breathless pace” was that “facts sometimes get garbled”: for example, “to call the splendid <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/mar/20/sidney-bechet-jazz-saxophone" title="">Sidney Bechet</a> ‘a Dixieland clarinettist’ is like&nbsp;calling <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/miles-davis" title="">Miles Davis</a> ‘a novelty trumpeter’”.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/23/books-review-roundup-quite-a-goodyear-to-be-born-cowboys-and-indies-and-soumission">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqDavid LodgeBooksCultureFri, 23 Jan 2015 18:45:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/23/books-review-roundup-quite-a-goodyear-to-be-born-cowboys-and-indies-and-soumissionPhotograph: Martin Meissner/AP‘Electrifying’ said David Sexton in the Spectator of Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission. Photograph: Martin Meissner/APPhotograph: Martin Meissner/AP‘Electrifying’ said David Sexton in the Spectator of Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission. Photograph: Martin Meissner/APGuardian Staff2015-01-23T18:45:11ZCan art still shock?http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/23/can-art-still-shock-short-history
<p>Is Grayson Perry right – can we no longer be outraged by art and literature? From Manet’s Olympia to Pussy Riot and Houellebecq, Adam Thirlwell presents a short history of shock</p><p>For a long time, I’ve been nostalgic for the era of shock. It’s with a certain fondness that I reflect on the crazed year of 1857, which began with <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/gustaveflaubert">Gustave Flaubert</a> in court for his first novel, <a href="http://bookshop.theguardian.com/madame-bovary-9.html"><em>Madame Bovary</em></a> (in the presence of a stenographer, hired by Flaubert, for the benefit of an incredulous posterity), followed, six months later, by <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/charles-baudelaire">Charles Baudelaire</a>, on trial for his first book of poems, <a href="http://bookshop.theguardian.com/fleurs-du-mal.html"><em>Les Fleurs du Mal</em></a>. On both occasions, the unlucky prosecutor was Ernest Pinard, who lamented “this unhealthy fever which induces writers to portray everything, to describe everything, to say everything”. The era of grand trials! Or if not trials, then <em>scandales</em>: like the first night of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/may/27/rite-of-spring-100-years-stravinsky">Stravinsky’s <em>Rite of Spring</em> in 1913</a>, with its catcalling audience; or <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/feb/09/art">Duchamp’s impish <em>Fountain</em></a> – his notorious urinal, signed by R Mutt, submitted to the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York in 1917, but rejected by its committee.</p><p>I was nostalgic because it seemed to me that shock was no longer possible. Or, perhaps more precisely, shock was no longer admissible. We are all, pronounced <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/grayson-perry">Grayson Perry</a>, bohemians now – and therefore unshockable by art. And if this is true, it signals a grand and maybe melancholy shift in the nature of art, and in the relation of art to society. It also appears to me – considering, let’s say, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/pussy-riot">Pussy Riot</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/ai-weiwei">Ai Weiwei</a> – a slightly provincial argument. And then came <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/charlie-hebdo-attack">the attack on Charlie Hebdo</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/23/can-art-still-shock-short-history">Continue reading...</a>BooksArtArt and designPaintingÉdouard ManetMichel HouellebecqCulturePussy RiotArt and designFri, 23 Jan 2015 17:15:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/23/can-art-still-shock-short-historyPhotograph: Corbis<em>Olympia</em> by Édouard Manet. Photograph: CorbisPhotograph: Corbis<em>Olympia</em> by Édouard Manet. Photograph: CorbisAdam Thirlwell2015-01-23T17:15:08ZHouellebecq’s Soumission becomes instant bestseller in wake of Paris attackshttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/16/michel-houellebecq-soumission-bestseller-charlie-hebdo
Novel, which imagines a world where Muslim fundamentalists rule France, sells 120,000 copies in five days to top country’s book charts<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-charlie-hebdo" title="">Read the Guardian’s review of Soumission</a><p>Michel Houellebecq’s controversial new novel Soumission, in which France is governed by the “Muslim Fraternity” party, has shot to the top of the country’s bestseller lists with a first-week sale of more than 100,000 copies.</p><p>Published on 7 January – the day masked gunmen broke into the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 – Soumission (Submission) sold 120,000 copies in just five days last week, <a href="http://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/houellebecq-soumet-les-meilleures-ventes" title="">according to French trade magazine Livres Hebdo</a>, putting it at the top of France’s book charts. There are 220,000 copies of the novel in print, according to Livres Hebdo, with <a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/news/flammarion-reprints-houellebecqs-soumission" title="">the Bookseller also reporting</a> “huge demand” for books of Charlie Hebdo cartoons and titles by the magazine’s cartoonists.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/16/michel-houellebecq-soumission-bestseller-charlie-hebdo">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqBooksFictionPublishingCharlie Hebdo attackWorld newsCharlie HebdoFranceFreedom of speechCultureFri, 16 Jan 2015 11:45:54 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/16/michel-houellebecq-soumission-bestseller-charlie-hebdoPhotograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty ImagesGoing fast … copies of Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission on sale in Paris. Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty ImagesGoing fast … copies of Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission on sale in Paris. Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty ImagesAlison Flood2015-01-16T11:45:54ZWho is Michel Houellebecq, the French novelist on the Charlie Hebdo cover?http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/10/michel-houellebecq-french-novelist-charlie-hebdo-cover
<p>An award-winning author of less renown in the US, the ageing l’enfant terrible has held an unflattering mirror to the world for more than a decade. Among his many targets has been Islam – a tack that once landed him in court in his native France</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/michel-houellebecq-stops-promotion-novel-charlie-hebdo-attack">Houellebecq steps back from promotional work after Charlie Hebdo attack</a></li><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-charlie-hebdo">Submission reviewed: Much more than a satire on Islam</a></li></ul><p>In February 2001, Nicholas Lezard made Atomised by Michel Houellebecq his <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/feb/24/fiction.michelhouellebecq">Guardian pick of the week</a>. This week, in January 2015, the novelist was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/charlie-hebdo-attack-brothers-killed-police-hostages-jewish-supermarket">caught up in the terrifying events in Paris</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jan/09/charlie-hebdo-manhunt-kouachi-terrorist-links-live-updates">Dammartin-en-Go&euml;le</a>, which left 17 people dead.</p><p>Anyone unfamiliar with Houellebecq and his work – particularly in America, where he is less well known than in Europe – might consider what Lezard wrote about the Frenchman’s second novel:</p><p>This is a bold and unsettling portrait of a society falling apart: the rage that both left and right, the piously religious as well as the humanists, have expressed towards Houellebecq is pretty much the rage of Caliban seeing his face in the glass.</p><p>There is not too much doubt that Houellebecq is an unpleasant person … One does not want to examine his ideas on race too deeply, just yet. I would get this and read it before that particular time bomb explodes.</p><p>The real target of Houellebecq’s satire, as in his previous novels, is the predictably manipulable venality and lustfulness of the modern metropolitan man, intellectual or otherwise.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/10/michel-houellebecq-french-novelist-charlie-hebdo-cover">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqBooksCharlie Hebdo attackFranceWorld newsCultureSat, 10 Jan 2015 13:00:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/10/michel-houellebecq-french-novelist-charlie-hebdo-coverPhotograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesFrench writer Michel Houellebecq poses during his photo exhibition Before Landing at the Pavillon Carre de Baudouin in Paris.Martin Pengelly2015-01-10T13:00:07ZSoumission by Michel Houellebecq review – much more than a satire on Islamismhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-charlie-hebdo
<p>The spotlight cast on the novelist by the Charlie Hebdo attacks should not mislead us – his target here is not Islamism but suggestible modern men<br><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/michel-houellebecq-stops-promotion-novel-charlie-hebdo-attack">News: Houellebecq stops promotion of novel after Charlie Hebdo attack</a></p><p>As <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jan/09/charlie-hebdo-manhunt-kouachi-terrorist-links-live-updates">the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo murders continues to unfold</a>, French readers are turning to the magazine’s latest cover star, with Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission racing to the top of bestseller lists at Amazon.fr. But is France’s most celebrated controversialist offering a splenetic vision of the Muslim threat to Europe or a spineless “submission” to gradual Islamic takeover? Actually, neither. It’s much more interesting than that.</p><p>Those riffling impatiently through the opening for controversy will be disappointed, as we are introduced slowly to the narrator, Fran&ccedil;ois, a middle-aged literary academic who teaches at the Sorbonne. He is an expert on Huysmans, the cultish 19th-century anatomist of decadence, and he sleeps hungrily with his students. But he is bored. The narration is enjoyably sardonic, a pungent mixture of deadpan jokes about sexual politics and close reading.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/michel-houellebecq-stops-promotion-novel-charlie-hebdo-attack">Michel Houellebecq stops promotion of new novel after Charlie Hebdo attack</a> </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-charlie-hebdo">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqBooksFictionCultureFri, 09 Jan 2015 15:15:47 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-charlie-hebdoPhotograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty ImagesSoumission is not the scandale it seems … Michel Houellebecq. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty ImagesSoumission is not the scandale it seems … Michel Houellebecq. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty ImagesSteven Poole2015-01-09T15:15:47ZMichel Houellebecq stops promotion of new novel after Charlie Hebdo attackhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/michel-houellebecq-stops-promotion-novel-charlie-hebdo-attack
<p>Soumission, which envisions France being ruled by a Muslim, featured on cover of satirical magazine on day of Paris attack</p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/soumission-michel-houellebecq-review-charlie-hebdo">Soumission reviewed by Steven Poole</a><br></p><p>The French novelist Michel Houellebecq, whose latest book featured on the cover of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on the day of the massacre at its offices, has stopped its promotion as the victims were being mourned.</p><p>Houellebecq, a friend of economist Bernard Maris, who was among the 12 people shot dead on Wednesday, was “deeply affected” and had decided to leave Paris for an unspecified rural retreat, his agent said on Thursday.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/michel-houellebecq-stops-promotion-novel-charlie-hebdo-attack">Continue reading...</a>Charlie HebdoMichel HouellebecqCharlie Hebdo attackBooksFranceEuropeWorld newsFri, 09 Jan 2015 10:39:12 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/michel-houellebecq-stops-promotion-novel-charlie-hebdo-attackPhotograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesMichel Houellebecq was placed under police protection after the Charlie Hedbo attack amid fears he may be on a terrorist hit-list. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/GettyPhotograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesMichel Houellebecq was placed under police protection after the Charlie Hedbo attack amid fears he may be on a terrorist hit-list. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/GettyAnne Penketh2015-01-09T10:39:12ZCharlie Hebdo: cartoon satire is a more potent weapon than hatehttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/jan/08/charlie-hebdo-satire-potent-weapon-cartoon-michel-houellebecq
<p>Humour is an essential force in the defence of free speech, as the murdered cartoonists’ final cover on Michel Houellebecq defiantly attests</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/08/michel-houellebecq-new-novel-september-english-charlie-hebdo">Houellebecq’s Submission will still be published in English</a></li></ul><p>The massacre at Charlie Hebdo was devastatingly effective. The terrorists objected to jokes about their religion, so they killed the jokers. Now nobody is laughing.</p><p>Sombre demonstrations do not defeat this assault on free speech. For comedy is killed as stone dead by collective sadness as it is by executing cartoonists.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/jan/08/charlie-hebdo-satire-potent-weapon-cartoon-michel-houellebecq">Continue reading...</a>Charlie HebdoCharlie Hebdo attackIllustrationMichel HouellebecqMagazinesReligionArtFictionArt and designBooksSocietyThu, 08 Jan 2015 14:15:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/jan/08/charlie-hebdo-satire-potent-weapon-cartoon-michel-houellebecqPhotograph: Xavier Francolon/Sipa/RexCharlie Hebdo’s 7 January 2015 cover, portraying novelist Michel Houellebecq and his new book that imagines an Islamist-ruled France. Photograph: Xavier Francolon/Sipa/RexPhotograph: Xavier Francolon/Sipa/RexCharlie Hebdo’s 7 January 2015 cover, portraying novelist Michel Houellebecq and his new book that imagines an Islamist-ruled France. Photograph: Xavier Francolon/Sipa/RexJonathan Jones2015-01-08T14:15:00ZMichel Houellebecq’s new novel set for September publication in Englishhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/08/michel-houellebecq-new-novel-september-english-charlie-hebdo
Controversial book by cover star of this week’s Charlie Hebdo imagines a France run by the ‘Muslim Fraternity’<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/charlie-hebdo-attack" title="">Full coverage of the Charlie Hebdo attack</a><p>The controversial new novel by Michel Houellebecq, which imagines a France where a fictional Muslim party wins the French election in 2022 and which features on the cover of this week’s Charlie Hebdo magazine, will be released in the UK in September.</p><p>Publisher William Heinemann said on Thursday morning, in the wake of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/charlie-hebdo-attack" title="">Wednesday’s attack on the French magazine which left 12 dead</a>, that its “publishing plans remain unaltered” for the forthcoming English translation of Houellebecq’s Soumission (Submission). Writers around the world, including Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk and Art Spiegelman, have condemned the violence, putting their names to a statement from PEN American Center which calls for renewed efforts to protect “those working on the front lines of free expression” and describes the attack as “an attempt to terrorise and intimidate all of us in order to inhibit the free flow of ideas”.&nbsp;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/08/michel-houellebecq-new-novel-september-english-charlie-hebdo">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqBooksFictionFiction in translationPublishingCharlie Hebdo attackWorld newsCultureThu, 08 Jan 2015 12:13:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/08/michel-houellebecq-new-novel-september-english-charlie-hebdoPhotograph: Jacky Naegelen/Reuters'Publishing plans remain unaltered' … Soumission (Submission) by Michel Houellebecq is displayed in a bookstore in Paris. Photograph: Jacky Naegelen/ReutersPhotograph: Jacky Naegelen/Reuters'Publishing plans remain unaltered' … Soumission (Submission) by Michel Houellebecq is displayed in a bookstore in Paris. Photograph: Jacky Naegelen/ReutersAlison Flood2015-01-08T12:13:28ZDVDs and downloads: The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, George Cukor’s Holiday, Bambi and morehttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/21/dvds-downloads-guy-lodge-discreet-charm-of-bourgeoisie-bambi
Streaming comes into its own at Christmas – and after a few drinks, anyone’s family gathering may start to resemble a Buñuel film<p>In the unlikely event that you need reminding, there are four days left until Christmas. And if you’re still scrabbling around for last-minute gifts, you probably won’t find them in this week’s roster of DVD releases. Perhaps you do have a niche relative who’d be delighted with a personal copy of the scowlingly proficient Scandi-by-numbers thriller <strong>The Keeper of Lost Causes </strong>(Spirit, 15) or, more commendably, Guillaume Nicloux’s cheerfully tricksy faux-documentary <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/08/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-berlin-2014-review" title=""><strong>The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq</strong></a> (Studiocanal, 15). Posing the exact scenario stated on the tin, and starring the eminent French writer as himself, it affords him a wicked platform to send up his own personal and literary affectations.</p><p>Still, you’re likelier to be perusing more seasoned and/or seasonal viewing options as you foggily digest your Christmas dinner and feign appreciative sips of your aunt’s curdled eggnog, which is where the wonders of streaming really come into their own. Nobody wants for ways to view <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/love-actually" title=""><em>Love Actually</em></a>, but what about Arnaud Desplechin’s delicious <strong>A Christmas Tale</strong>? The single greatest Yule-themed film of the new century, this knotty, Pinot-noir dissection of a dysfunctional French brood reunited for the holidays reveals new pockets of comfort and joy with each new viewing. It’s become as much an annual standard in my household as <em>It’s a Wonderful Life</em> in many others. <a href="http://www.curzonhomecinema.com/#!/film/CRZ_A_CHRISTMAS_TALE" title="">Curzon Home Cinema</a>, in a fit of Santa-ish generosity, is offering it for a mere two quid.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/21/dvds-downloads-guy-lodge-discreet-charm-of-bourgeoisie-bambi">Continue reading...</a>DVD and video reviewsFilmLuis BuñuelWhen Harry Met SallyBambiMichel HouellebecqNetflixMediaSun, 21 Dec 2014 08:00:25 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/21/dvds-downloads-guy-lodge-discreet-charm-of-bourgeoisie-bambiPhotograph: Allstar/IFC FILMSCatherine Deneuve, right, in the ‘delicious’ A Christmas Tale, available on Curzon Home Cinema. Photograph: Allstar/IFC FILMSPhotograph: Allstar/IFC FILMSCatherine Deneuve, right, in the ‘delicious’ A Christmas Tale, available on Curzon Home Cinema. Photograph: Allstar/IFC FILMSGuy Lodge2014-12-21T08:00:25ZMichel Houellebecq provokes France with story of Muslim presidenthttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/16/michel-houllebecq-france-submission-soumission-muslim-islam-president
Soumission (Submission) is the latest work from provocative French author who considers Islam ‘cretinous’<p>Award-winning French novelist Michel Houellebecq has sparked an outcry after it emerged that his new novel tells of France being run by a Muslim president.</p><p>In 2022, with the help of the French Socialist party and the centrists, Mohammed Ben Abbes defeats the far-right Front National and takes up residence at the Elys&eacute;e Palace. The country is in turmoil.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/16/michel-houllebecq-france-submission-soumission-muslim-islam-president">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqBooksFranceEuropeWorld newsTue, 16 Dec 2014 15:32:17 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/16/michel-houllebecq-france-submission-soumission-muslim-islam-presidentPhotograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesMichel Houellebecq's story is premised on voting between a FN candidate or an Islamic candidate. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesMichel Houellebecq's story is premised on voting between a FN candidate or an Islamic candidate. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesKim Willsher in Paris2014-12-16T15:32:17ZThe Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq review – a cheerfully bizarre captivityhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/18/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-review
The French novelist upends Stockholm syndrome and charms his captors in this uproarious docu-fantasy<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/18/why-the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-is-the-one-film-you-should-watch-this-week-video" title="">Video: why The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq is the one thing you should watch this week</a><p>Eric Cantona is not the only French public figure who yearns to make it in the movies. The legendary novelist Michel Houellebecq is apparently building a film-acting career, having already directed his own adaptation of his novel <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/aug/13/michelhouellebecq.france" title="">The Possibility of an Island</a> and dabbled a bit in cinema as a younger man. He is an extraordinary presence in this bizarre and very funny docu-fantasy, a sort of Euro-realist Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Houellebecq plays himself getting kidnapped by three tough-guy amateurs who imagine <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/francois-hollande" title="">Fran&ccedil;ois Hollande</a> will pay €20,000 (&pound;15,775) to rescue the eminent <em>litt&eacute;rateur.</em> The result is a deadpan and yet cheerfully offensive romp with scabrous and uproarious scenes, as our hero airs his provocative views to his captors.</p><p>It’s a sort of upended Stockholm syndrome – they get to like him. This could be a pre-emptive mockery of possible jihadist attempts to punish Houellebecq for his perceived Islamophobia, or it’s inspired by an embattled Salman Rushdie getting to know his Special Branch minders. Or maybe it’s a meditation on the writer’s life: solitary, miserable, waiting for some external “ransom” event for validation.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/18/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-review">Continue reading...</a>The Kidnapping of Michel HouellebecqMichel HouellebecqComedyDramaComedyFilmCultureBooksThu, 18 Sep 2014 22:50:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/18/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-reviewPhotograph: PRDeadpan and yet cheerfully offensive romp … The Kidnapping of Michel HouellebecqPhotograph: PRDeadpan and yet cheerfully offensive romp … The Kidnapping of Michel HouellebecqPeter Bradshaw2014-09-18T22:50:01ZWhy The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq is the one film you should watch this week - videohttp://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/18/why-the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-is-the-one-film-you-should-watch-this-week-video
The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq sees the French author play himself as 'Michel Houellebecq' is kidnapped by criminals hoping to win a ransom. It's a story of reverse Stockholm syndrome, says <strong>Peter Bradshaw</strong>, as the kidnappers grow to love the eccentric novelist <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/18/why-the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-is-the-one-film-you-should-watch-this-week-video">Continue reading...</a>The Kidnapping of Michel HouellebecqCultureFilmDramaComedyMichel HouellebecqBooksThu, 18 Sep 2014 07:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/18/why-the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-is-the-one-film-you-should-watch-this-week-videoStudioCanalStill from The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq Photograph: StudioCanalPeter Bradshaw and Henry Barnes2014-09-18T07:30:00ZFrom Houellebecq to Rushdie: the authors who took to the silver screenhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/03/authors-act-michel-houllebecq
Michel Houellebecq may be the first author to have a whole film built around him, but thespian turns by authors are by no means uncommon<p>In <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/08/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-berlin-2014-review" title=""><em>The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq</em></a>, just given its US premiere at the Tribeca festival, the eponymous French novelist stars as himself. Guillaume Nicloux's film takes a real recent incident – Houellebecq's mysterious disappearance during the publicity tour for his Prix Goncourt-winning novel <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780099554578" title=""><em>The Map and the Territory</em></a>, in which he similarly appears as a character – and wryly purports to show what really happened: he was abducted and held captive by three brothers, who, despite his irritating ways, gradually came to respect him.</p><p>While Houellebecq may be the first novelist to have a film built around him, thespian turns by authors of his stature are by no means uncommon. One Nobel laureate, Harold Pinter racked up a long list of&nbsp;acting credits in film and TV (from <em>The&nbsp;Servant</em> to <em>The Tailor of Panama</em>), as other actor-playwrights – Alan Bennett, Sam Shepard – have done. Another, Gabriel Garc&iacute;a M&aacute;rquez, played a cinema-ticket seller in the 60s&nbsp;Mexican film <em>There Are No Thieves in this Town</em>, in which the film director Luis Bu&ntilde;uel and the novelist Juan Rulfo were also in the cast.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/03/authors-act-michel-houllebecq">Continue reading...</a>Michel HouellebecqBooksCultureFilmSat, 03 May 2014 13:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/03/authors-act-michel-houllebecqprStar turn … The Kidnapping Of Michel Houllebecq.prStar turn … The Kidnapping Of Michel Houllebecq.John Dugdale2014-05-03T13:00:00ZMichel Houellebecq: 'I'd have been safer taking LSD'http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/19/michel-houellebecq-kidnapping
Michel Houellebecq caused a storm when he went missing in 2011. The great literary provocateur tells Andrew Pulver why he has made a film about those three days called The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq<p>Here's an exclusive from the Berlin film festival: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/michelhouellebecq" title="">Michel Houellebecq</a> smokes e-cigarettes. I spotted France's bad-boy film-maker and novelist taking a furtive puff while talking about his latest big-screen venture – one titled, with typical lack of self-effacement, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/08/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-berlin-2014-review" title="">The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq</a>. Naturally, he plays the lead.</p><p>What Houellebecq smokes would not normally be of huge interest, except he spends the whole of this new&nbsp;film either puffing on a cigarette, trying to light one, or whining to his captors to give him a lighter. When we finally talk, it turns out that Houellebecq is neither trying to quit, nor is he overly worried about lung cancer or emphysema. It's just that the sprinklers in the building are triggered by cigarette smoke. If he lit up for real, we'd all get drenched.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/19/michel-houellebecq-kidnapping">Continue reading...</a>The Kidnapping of Michel HouellebecqWorld cinemaMichel HouellebecqDramaFilmBooksCultureWed, 19 Feb 2014 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/19/michel-houellebecq-kidnappingFrancois Berthier/Getty ImagesMichel Houellebecq. Photograph: Francois Berthier/Getty ImagesPRA still from The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq.PRA still from The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq.Andrew Pulver2014-02-19T19:00:00ZBerlin film festival rounduphttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/16/berlin-film-festival-roundup-2014
The 64th Berlinale was enlivened by the likes of George Clooney, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and Nick Cave – and the best pulled pork ever<p>Some long-established film festivals, such as <a href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html" title="">Cannes</a> and <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/" title="">Venice</a>, can legitimately claim to be timeless. <a href="http://www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html" title="">Berlin</a>, however, seems to be stuck in the past, and not only because the event somewhat coasts on its bygone reputation as a festival of discovery. It's also because, amid the corporate monumentalist architecture of <a href="http://potsdamerplatz.de/en/home/" title="">Potsdamer Platz</a>, the atmosphere seems frozen in the mid-1990s. The Berlinale's synth-heavy trip-hop anthem plays before every film, accompanying the CGI fireworks of the&nbsp;festival trailer, and as you emerge from the Palast, the first thing you see is the billboard for the long-running show by hoary postmodernist novelty act <a href="http://www.stage-entertainment.de/musicals-shows/blue-man-group-berlin/blue-man-group-berlin-eng.html" title="">Blue Man Group</a>.</p><p>The Berlinale's 64th edition was the most lukewarm in years. You don't usually expect swoons and scandals here, but you do hope that every year's competition will bring one major discovery, or at least an unassuming gem that everyone falls in love with. There was one universally adored film in competition – but it doesn't quite count as a Berlin revelation, as it came straight from wowing <a href="http://www.sundance.org/festival/" title="">Sundance</a>. That was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/jan/21/sundance-2014-film-festival-calvary-boyhood-video" title=""><strong>Boyhood</strong></a> by Richard Linklater, following a Texan childhood over 10 years, a warm, expansive saga that at the time of going to press was this year's frontrunner for top award the Golden Bear.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/16/berlin-film-festival-roundup-2014">Continue reading...</a>Berlin film festival 2014Berlin film festivalFestivalsMichel HouellebecqNick CaveWes AndersonLars von TrierTilda SwintonFilmCultureSun, 16 Feb 2014 00:05:19 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/16/berlin-film-festival-roundup-2014CAP/ NFS/Capital PicturesJack O'Connell in British director Yann Demange's 'nailbiting' Northern Ireland drama '71. Photograph: CAP/NFS/Capital PicturesThomas Peter/ReutersNick Cave, in Berlin for the documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. Photograph: Thomas Peter/ ReutersLuca Teuchmann/Getty ImagesAbove (l-r): Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Saoirse Ronan at the opening ceremony of the 64th Berlinale. Photograph: Luca Teuchmann/Getty ImagesLuca Teuchmann/Getty ImagesAbove (l-r): Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Saoirse Ronan at the opening ceremony of the 64th Berlinale. Photograph: Luca Teuchmann/Getty ImagesJonathan Romney2014-02-16T00:05:19ZThe Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq: Berlin 2014 – first look reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/08/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-berlin-2014-review
This playful account of the French author's 'abduction' purports to show what happened during Houellebecq's 2011 disappearance<p>Michel Houellebecq, the award-winning French novelist who has left a trail of outrage in his wake over his views on sex, Islam, and western civilisation, here steps confidently in front of the camera for what can only be described as a hybrid fictionalised self-portrait. Written and directed by Guillaume Nicloux, and perhaps taking its cue from Houellebecq's recent novel The Map and the Territory, in which the writer ends up getting murdered, the film entertainingly elaborates on Houellebecq's<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/15/michel-houellebecq-film-book-disappear-kidnap"> brief vanishing act in 2011</a> while on a promotional tour for that very book.</p><p>Nicloux's &quot;revelation&quot; is that Houellebecq failed to show up for his readings because he had been abducted by three brothers - on the orders of a mysterious third party - and held for ransom in a small house in the country. Well, it's a theory, and with Houellebecq himself fronting it, who's to argue? In truth, prank though this may be, Houellebecq comes across as a surprisingly engaging figure, with a nice line in self-parody, as well as awareness of his more ridiculous gestures.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/08/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-berlin-2014-review">Continue reading...</a>The Kidnapping of Michel HouellebecqBerlin film festival 2014FilmBerlin film festivalMichel HouellebecqCultureBooksSat, 08 Feb 2014 22:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/08/the-kidnapping-of-michel-houellebecq-berlin-2014-reviewRafa Alcaide/EPAMystery solved? ... The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq. Photograph: Rafa Alcaide/EPARafa Alcaide/EPAWhere's Houellebecq? The French media went as far as suggesting the writer had been kidnapped by al-Qaida when he failed to turn up to part of book tour. Photograph: Rafa Alcaide/EPAAndrew Pulver2014-02-08T22:30:00ZA French Novel by Frédéric Beigbeder – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/14/french-novel-frederic-beigbeder-review
In his autobiographical zigzag through 70s France, Frédéric Beigbeder treads a fine line between self-pity and self-awareness<p>An amnesiac nation, in denial about its&nbsp;own war history, whose populace has succumbed to a vast unbridled materialism … it may all sound very American, but this is France, as portrayed by Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Beigbeder. The&nbsp;book, translated by Frank Wynne, appears in English some time&nbsp;after publication in his native country, where it won the prestigious Prix Renaudot in 2009.</p><p><em>A French Novel</em> is, despite its name, an autobiographical zigzag through the&nbsp;novelist's 60s and 70s upbringing, interspersed with a bitter account of two days he spent incarcerated in Paris after being caught snorting coke in public. Earlier novels such as <em>Holiday in a Coma</em> and the bold 9/11 fiction <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780007184705" title=""><em>Windows on the World</em></a> helped establish Beigbeder's reputation as a bright bad boy – a French Bret Easton Ellis or Jay&nbsp;McInerney (both of whom&nbsp;are namechecked in this book; McInerney is both a character in and a blurber of <em>A&nbsp;French Novel</em>).</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/14/french-novel-frederic-beigbeder-review">Continue reading...</a>FictionBooksCultureFranceEuropeWorld newsMichel HouellebecqSat, 14 Sep 2013 07:45:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/14/french-novel-frederic-beigbeder-reviewVincent O'Byrne/AlamyThe trauma of two nights in a dingy prison cell prompts Frédéric Beigbeder's memory. Photograph: Vincent O'Byrne/AlamyVincent O'Byrne/AlamyThe trauma of two nights in a dingy prison cell prompts Frédéric Beigbeder's memory. Photograph: Vincent O'Byrne/AlamySylvia Brownrigg2013-09-14T07:45:00ZReaders suggest the 10 best ... writers in novels - in pictureshttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/aug/11/philiproth-martinamis
Last week we brought you <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/aug/03/10-best-writers-in-novels">John Niven's 10 best writers in novels</a>. Here, we present your thoughts on who really should have made the list <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/aug/11/philiproth-martinamis">Continue reading...</a>BooksPhilip RothMartin AmisMichael ChabonFlann O'BrienRaymond ChandlerJohn UpdikeGeorge OrwellKurt VonnegutMichel HouellebecqJames JoyceCultureTue, 06 Aug 2013 12:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/aug/11/philiproth-martinamisEric Thayer/ReutersAuthor Philip Roth in New York Photograph: Eric Thayer/ReutersObserver2013-08-06T12:05:00Z